Lawmakers say Jindal willing to cooperate

Apr. 27, 2009

Written by

Gannett Capital Bureau

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal appears ready to work with the Legislature in trying to solve the budget crisis that threatens state universities, health care and many other services, state lawmakers said.

Following the governor's speech to a joint session of the House and Senate Monday, legislators across the state said the governor appears open to suggestions in repeatedly saying "I ask for your help" in solving problems.

"He's trying to find a middle ground," said Sen. Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe. "He's saying 'It's not my way or the Legislature's way. It's Louisiana's way.' He's willing to work with the Legislature."

Rep. Herbert Dixon, D-Alexandria, said he hopes the Legislature will have considerable input because "the proposed cuts are too severe to pre-K, colleges and health care. The list goes on and on."

"In a way, everybody is hoping somebody else has a magic bullet," said Rep. Chris Roy, D-Alexandria, who described the speech as "very vanilla. It goes back to fourth-grade math -- we can't spend what we don't have. We have to figure out what the priorities are."

Even if priorities are set, Dixon said, "everybody is going to be a little upset. Nobody's going to be happy about being cut."

Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the governor not having "an overly ambitious agenda" and not setting hard guidelines for the session reflects that he realizes "the Legislature feels like it needs to exercise independence. We're going to look at any option we have available."

"Unfortunately, there will be winners and losers in this budget," Michot said.

Lawmakers want to help higher education out of a budget problem but Michot said he believes it will include consolidation of four-year universities.

Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, said the governor "is smart and I think he plays it safe."

He said his best advice to the governor is to "continue to partner with the Legislature" if he wants to be successful in "an austerity session."

"We need to change policies that are antiquated, merge things that need to be merged and save money," Thompson said.

"The fact that he wants to sunset state dedications is a huge step in the right direction," said Rep. Joel Robideaux, I-Lafayette. "If it's a good use of dedicated revenue, being spent the way it's supposed to, they can show it's worthwhile. If it's just sitting there, it would be a simple vote. If they're opposed to a sunset, it's like they have something to hide."

Sen. Lydia Jackson, D-Shreveport, said the governor's remarks were "noticeably void of the partisan sparks we've heard in recent commentaries." Also, "there were no over-arching themes or proposals in his speech."

"It's interesting that he admitted to having made mistakes," she said. "I wonder if it perhaps was in reference to the Stelly rollback, which I think was the biggest mistake."

Jackson was referring to legislation by Sen. B.L. "Buddy" Shaw, R-Shreveport, signed into law last year repealing $380 million in income taxes on the top 20 percent of Louisiana taxpayers.

Robideaux said he believes the governor was referring to "needing to do a better job communicating and being more visible in committee meetings." Rep. Rick Gallot," D-Ruston, said the comment "could be left to multiple interpretations.

Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, said she believes Jindal "made some really good points" about changes that need to be made.

"It will be a tough session," said Landry, one of three new House members sworn into office Monday. "But I'm looking forward to it

"Obviously, the biggest fight will be over the budget," she said. "Nobody wants to have their budget cut. It's a difficult task and unfortunately, higher education and health care always bear the brunt of deficits."

Landry joins numerous other legislators supporting the governor's proposal to open up the budget process so cuts can be spread around more, not just imposed on state agencies that have no constitutional or statutory budget protection.

"We need to change so they don't continue to carry the burden," she said.

Gallot said he was impressed that the governor spoke for 20 minutes without notes or a teleprompter. "That's the first time in eight years I've seen that."

Several lawmakers said that if Jindal had done that in his response to President Barack Obama's address to Congress, that speech could have had a much different outcome.

Gallot said he is "looking forward to see how the process plays out. Like any good sausage-making operation, there will be varied ingredients that go into the final product that affect its appearance and taste."